Just add some dipping sauce ...

VG'S SPORTS NUGGETS

It's a big day today in about 55 different ways. It all starts this morning with this post. Being it's a Thursday in basketball season, there is more to read from around the Inland Northwest than even I have time for – and I'm semi-retired. But if you want a quick overview of college and prep sports, this is the right place to be. We have links and notes from everything from Washington State basketball to prep wrestling, from the Zags to the Eagles. BTW, the headline refers to today's guest title. Read on.

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As we do read comments (and act on them if they make sense), we are going to be trying out a new organizational structure to today's post, breaking it up a bit more prominently by subject matter. This will vary from day-to-day (we have Washington State, Gonzaga, Eastern Washington, Idaho and prep items today, but may not have as many sections each day) and will not only contain what we have from the S-R, but links to other sources as well. Tell me what you think ...

• Washington State: The Cougars are on the road to Utah today and Christian is with them. As he explains in this informative post this morning (don't miss it), his travel itinerary today will keep him off the blog in the morning, so I'll try to help out with links (and yes, I already miss the travel; like George Clooney's character in "Up in the Air" I enjoyed time in airports and hotels). ... Also, if you missed Christian's introductory post I believe you'll want to go back and read it (heck, he says nice things about me; of course I'm going to link it again). ... This is a pretty big weekend for the Cougars, as Utah may be the worst team in the conference – OK, change the may be to are – and Colorado is an unknown quantity. Tonight's game is radio only, or you can follow Christian's Twitter feed (@ChristianCaple). ... The Utes are trying to figure out how to defend Brock Motum. ... Other than WSU at Utah, the Huskies are playing in Colorado, UCLA hosts Arizona, USC has Arizona State at home, California is at surprisingly 0-2 Oregon State and Stanford is in Eugene to face the Ducks. ... The Pac-12 released the 2012 football schedule yesterday and there is a boatload of angst not only in Pullman, with the Cougars scheduled to play the Apple Cup in Martin Stadium the Friday after Thanksgiving, but also from around the conference. The Big Game is going to be in October – California also doesn't have a bye until, well, until the season is over – and there are all those TV-induced Thursday and Friday games. But heh, every game is on television. And some schools are glad to be playing on Black Friday. And the Duck faithful have already circled one date. ... Washington isn't recruiting the state as well as it has done recently. ... The shoes have dropped at Stanford. ... One last WSU note: Watching West Virginia put up 70 points on Clemson last night with Mike Leach's offense – WVU coach Dana Holgorsen played for, learned from and coached with Leach for years – without some of the weapons there are in Pullman – a couple of talented quarterbacks, a handful of excellent receivers – it is easy to understand why Cougar fans are excited.

• Gonzaga: With Pepperdine coming to town tonight, Jim Meehan filed this feature on sophomore big man San Dower. The game begins at 6 on KHQ-TV. Santa Clara is in town on Saturday and that 5 p.m. game is on KAYU in Spokane. You can follow Jim tonight from the Kennel on Twitter (@SRJimm) ... If you remember former Gonzaga player Errol Knight, you might find this story from the Kitsap Sun interesting. Even if you don't remember Knight, you might like it. ... Though Bud Withers' blog is called Pac-12 Confidential, the Seattle Times columnist writes about the WCC race in this post.

• Eastern Washington: The Eagles, after splitting their first two Big Sky games on the road in Montana, return to Cheney tonight and host conference favoriteWeber State, a game televised on SWX. ... Jim Allen takes over the EWU beat for the S-R. He will also have a story for tomorrow's S-R on quarterback Bo Levi Mitchell in advance of Friday's Payton Award ceremony. Mitchell, as you probably know, is a finalist.

• Idaho: The Vandals open WAC play tonight in Moscow, hosting the Nevada Wolfpack. Josh Wright (Twitter: @SR_JoshWright) will be covering the game and has this blog post.

• Preps: Thursday is Prep Page day, with Greg Lee looking back at the top stories of 2011. But wrestling took center stage with Mike Vlahovich's feature on the Deer Park program, Greg's notebook and the daily roundup.

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• That's it for this morning. We're on the radio this afternoon starting at 3 p.m. If you want to listen as I join Keith Osso and Rick Lukens on ESPN 700, you can do so here. There is a listen live button. I'm sure we will be talking Cougars, Zags, Eagles and just about everything else in sports. I'll then be sitting down watching the Gonzaga and Eastern games, possibly even sending a few pithy comments via Twitter. Until then ...